Phaeton
by Azalee
Summary: Enma said, Shoot, Tsuna-kun; hurry. So Tsuna did. Post-340, speculative


Speculative, set immediately after chapter #340. Dark-ish, serious take on this ridiculous manga, the way we all love it. Also random mythology references that don't necessarily make complete sense.  
>Un-edited, written in under an hour, I am very happy to have done this (and I actually<em> like<em> Enma).

* * *

><p>Enma said <em>Shoot, Tsuna-kun. Hurry!<em>

So Tsuna did.

o

Watching Daemon Spade burn to ash and death, all six of them, was nowhere as satisfactory as Byakuran was. This was the present; there was no going back, no way to pretend it had never happened.

There was no coming back to a world where Enma still lived, either.

Tsuna turned and walked away with his head high, but without meeting any of his Guardians' eyes. Gokudera tried to follow him (of course), but Yamamoto held him back when Tsuna punched a tree down to stop himself from screaming. Hibari-san tilted his head lightly, as if in acknowledgment, and made no further move.

Tsuna walked back to the beach alone, told the Ninth the mission was over, no casualties on their side, and that Reborn would report to him. The Ninth said _Good job, Vongola X_.

Tsuna didn't scream, cry, or come out of his cabin from the entire trip back to land.

o

Tsuna goes to school on Monday, as do Gokudera and Yamamoto, although most of Shimon don't. Suzuki Adelheid is there, of course, standing next to Hibari-san during the official announcement and mourning ceremony, staring straight ahead with dull eyes.

He hears her sobbing her heart out and Katou Julie's soothing voice in the ladies' room during lunch break.

He turns and leaves.

Gokudera skips the afternoon lessons and stays behind on the rooftop, smoking angrily and cussing at Yamamoto when he stays too. Tsuna goes back to class alone, because it's not as if he needs an escort.

Kyouko-chan meets him at the door to tell him that her brother is hospitalized, though stable and safe. Her eyes are calm, in the way a pot of scalding water only gives a thin stream of steam for warning that it's boiling right under the lid.

Tsuna says _Alright, thank you_ and not_ Sorry_ because he isn't, and also because he does not wish for her to try and tear his eyes out in front of the class.

He would have to stop her. He doesn't feel like it right now.

o

"Are you proud?" he asked Reborn that night, staring at the stars.

"You will be tired in class tomorrow and perhaps catch a cold, and I will call you No-Good Tsuna."

"I'll go home in a minute, just making sure the kids are asleep when I get there. You know what I mean."

Reborn stared at him with his eerie, empty blackbutton eyes. "You did what any mafioso would have done in order to protect your family. I have taught you well." He didn't blink. "Idiot Tsuna."

Tsuna spotted the Northern Cross and thought the star formation looked like Enma's odd pupils. He closed his eyes.

"The Milky Way," Reborn said in the same emotionless voice as always. "In Japan, it's said to be a river separating lovers. The Cygnus star Deneb allows them to meet. In Europe, the stars are the sparks that remain of Phaeton's charred body."

Tsuna breathed.

"Thank you, Reborn."

"Cycnus is Phaeton's friend who asked for Zeus to strike him down and now looks for his body."

Tsuna opened his eyes again.

"You made me do this," he said, matter-of-factly.

"Mythology is interesting. Ultimately, it's just stories, though. I didn't tell you to do anything," he adds, tilting his head to look at Tsuna as if in curiosity.

"No."

Tsuna reached a gloved hand up towards the stream of stars trickling across the sky like a river made of lovers' tears.

"You trusted me to decide to do it myself."

He thought of Enma's smile before he started howling in pain and it was cremated away, thought he'd do it again for his family, thought, _You've made me into a monster._

"I am proud of you," Reborn said.

o

He starts coughing in class that afternoon but does not seize the excuse to go back home or to the infirmary, as the teacher suggests. He knows Reborn is watching from some secret closet hidden in the classroom, unamused.

"It's fine, just a little cold," he says, smiling. "I'll be fine."


End file.
